Happy New Year!

Yes, I’ve been slack and not updating my blog. Looking at the last blog entry that I posted – April 2010, and that was the only post last year. I am REALLY slack.

I intend to post a little more often than once this year. I even have the wordpress app on my iPhone so there really isn’t any excuse now except for my lazyness.

I’m also reshuffling the site around a little, creating a space for my current projects. People seem to be keen on the status of the fish tank, as well as past programming projects I’ve done in the past, as well as current distractions.

Watch this space.. it WILL be updating much sooner than you think…..

It should automatically detect you are on an iPhone and adjust the layout accordingly. For a sneak peak of the iPhone view (for you old fashioned people using big screens) you can see the theme in action in all its glory here.

Of course if you are actually viewing this on an iPhone then you would already be seeing it.

I saw a few converted G3′s into fish tanks, and thought I could do something similar.

After a hour or so applying some customized ‘patches’ I have finished the final product, which I call the iCat.

I think ‘Melodie’ will get far more use out of this than I ever did. May have trouble loading software on it though (it is now missing a mouse *grin*).

It is an ASCII roguelike game that has a number of different modes. There is an adventurer mode, which is similar to the classic nethack games, but there is also a Dwarf Fortress mode, which allows you to build and design a fortress.

It is like the old dungeon keeper PC game, but with ASCII, and far more detailed (and addictive).

Ok, the graphics are pretty ordinary (it’s ASCII), but if you go to the wiki you will find heaps of information on how to customize your screen with graphics, as well as lots of hints and tips to play.

You start by first creating your own little world, creating mountains, rivers, lakes, forests, and then it populates the game with cities, heros, legends.. 200 years of history.

So far, I’ve lost many a fortress to those pesky goblins, but I’ll build up one to the likes of Moria without getting too deep for the lucrative adamantine.

Each time you lose a fortress, it saves the world state, so you can always go back to your existing fortresses as an adventurer and recover all your stuff.

It just proves that you don’t need fancy graphics or mass marketing to make an enjoyable game – it is all about the gameplay and replay.

In the photo is Venus on the left, Jupiter on the right, and the moon as a mouth.

Best thing is here in Australia we see the smiling face, but in America the moon would have moved past the eyes so they would see a frown.

Apparently the next time this will happen again is 2036 (according to the guy on the radio).